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.“The last two casualties occurred well over six hours after the initial attack. It was known early that the U.S. Ambassador to Libya was missing. His whereabouts were only discovered when Libyan hospital officials, who were attending to Ambassador Stevens, found his cell phone and made a call. It is disappointing to hear that our national command authorities failed to try to reinforce the Consulate with timely air assets, and that a consulate located in one of the most dangerous regions in the world was so unsecured.”

We had NOTHING within 6 hours of Benghazi to assist these people? If this is true, then the fault goes also to the Pentagon for such a failure.

According to CBS news, the Pentagon moved a team of special operators from Central Europe to Sigonella, Italy, only a one hour flight away from Libya. There were also fighter aircraft and Specter AC-130 stationed at three air bases in Italy.
CBS quoted retired CIA officer Gary Berntsen who led the team that responded to the Embassy bombings in East Africa. “You find a way to make this happen. There isn’t a plan for every single engagement. Sometimes you have to be able to make adjustments. They made zero adjustments in this. They stood and they watched and our people died.”

We have now heard the President and the Secretary of State both accept the blame. Emerging information indicates that there could have been more done. Real time drone images were being watched in a command post some where and decisions were made not to respond.

The United States maintains a number of robust and highly classified options to deal with such events. I don’t want to read about them in the press, but I do want accountability from the decision makers who had these options and failed to try. Our dead and wounded deserve an honest accounting.

The disaster at Desert One in Iran had an impact on a Presidential election, but its honest evaluation changed the entire Department of Defense for the better. The events in Libya should be examined with the same care.

I would say that almost anyone on this Forum could have come up with a better plan than that!

Interesting statement here:'

The Pentagon’s national military command center distributed a report around 4:30 p.m., 50 minutes after the assault started, that there had been violence in Benghazi and that the ambassador could not be located.

President Obama was informed about the attack at 5 p.m. by his national security adviser, Thomas E. Donilon, at the start of a meeting at the White House with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Libya was not the only worry. There were also protests at the United States’ embassies in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen.

In the meeting, Mr. Obama ordered the Pentagon to begin “mobilizing all available military assets to respond to a range of contingencies in Libya and other countries in the region,” said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

But the administration was not well positioned to respond quickly.

In view of the fact that Stevens had repeatedly informed his superiors of inadequate security, is there any other explanation for this disaster than gross incompetence? This kind of performance is what is costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars? Or did SOMEone resist committing the assets that could have saved some of these lives?

G.Clinchy@gmail.com"Know in your heart that all things are possible. We couldn't conceive of a miracle if none ever happened." -Libby Fudim

​I don't use the PM feature, so just email me direct at the address shown above.

The four people who were supposedly "reprimanded" for their performance on Benghazi ... three are "on administrative leave" (does that mean they're still collecting a paycheck?) The 4th person, Boswell, the guy in charge, he resigned his position ... but has not left the DOS; perhaps only "moved to another desk".

Does ANYone, at any level, have to accept responsibility for incompetence EVER?

G.Clinchy@gmail.com"Know in your heart that all things are possible. We couldn't conceive of a miracle if none ever happened." -Libby Fudim

​I don't use the PM feature, so just email me direct at the address shown above.